REAGAN'S AMERICA:
SOCIETY, CULTURE AND POLITICS IN THE 1980s
Philip
Jenkins
CLASS 3
This class will examine the
economic foundations of the Reagan years. We will consider the following
themes:
*The Decline of the Old
Economy
Making the Rustbelt
Cars and steel
The decline of organized labor
Impact on the cities
The new age of unemployment
The fate of agriculture
*The New Economy
The information economy
New forms of employment and the
impact on gender relations
The impact of Bayh-Dole
New concepts of urbanism and
retailing
*Revolution in Personal
Finance
How the middle class became the
money class
Credit cards, money markets and
discount brokerage
Deregulation
*The Politics of Taxes and
Welfare
Crisis of the New Deal state
The Tax Revolt
Supply-side economics and the
Laffer Curve
Trickle-down economics
*Reaganomics
Tax cuts and passing ERTA
The 1981-82 slump
Deficit spending
Deregulation across the board
Environmental impacts
The defense build-up –
who benefited?
Voodoo economics?
The Gramm-Rudman counter-attack
*The International Context
The rise of Asia
Would Japan be Number One?
Oil prices as the key
determinant of the global economy
Iran and Iraq
*Masters of the Universe
Reshaping Corporate America
Mergers and acquisitions
The new world on Wall Street
The capitalist as superstar
– Trump and Iacocca
*The Dark Side of the Force
Reagan-era scandals as the
by-product of the new ethos of deregulation
Defense procurement scandals
Wall Street scandals and the arbitrageurs
Wedtech
The meltdown of the Savings and
Loans
BCCI
The 1987 stock market crash
Was the US going through an
economic revolution? How was it manifested? What had happened to the
traditional pillars of the economy, such as steel, coal, cars? How about
agriculture?
What had happened in hi-tech,
in the information economy?
What were the social effects of
these changes?
What were the racial effects of
these changes?
What were the gender effects of
these changes?
What effects had these changes
had on the nationÕs geography? Its urban structure? Which regions did well?
Which not?
What effects had these changes
had on the mass media?
What happens to news and newsgathering during the 1980s?
How does this affect standards of credibility, and just
what news is Òfit to printÓ?
What about education?
Some Suggestions For Reading
Gil TroyÕs Morning In
America
I will begin with our generic
questions that you should be asking yourself when you read each and every book
in this course:
1.First, obviously, what is the
book about, and what is its central theme or point?
2.Does the author make his/her
case well and clearly? Is the book well-written and well-argued? (the two
points are not necessarily the same!) If not, why not?
3. The fact that the book was
published indicates that somebody thought it made an important and innovative
point – thereÕs no point in just rehashing old familiar arguments, or so
we would think. WhatÕs new about this book? Is it a controversial study?
4. What did the book tell us
that was not previously known? What can we learn about how the book fits into
the existing literature, yet advances beyond previous knowledge? What earlier
or established position is it arguing against?
5. Why are people studying this
kind of topic right now? What does this tell us about the state of historical
writing and scholarship?
6. Does the author push the
evidence to make it fit into contemporary concerns and obsessions? How?
7. What major questions and
issues surface about the era we are discussing?
8. Is the book of any interest
or significance beyond the immediate scope of the study addressed?
9.Are there questions that you
would like to ask that the author does not deal with, or covers poorly?
10.What can we learn from the
footnotes and acknowledgments about how the author went about his/her research?
(see especially TroyÕs pages 349-56).
Here are some other
questions, specific to Troy:
Troy makes extensive use of
popular culture and especially television shows to illustrate social and
political trends. What does he find from these observations? Do you think his
popular culture examples are valuable? Give me two examples where you think he
is making his best point. Give me two where you think he is wrong, or
over-stating his case. What can we learn from popular culture materials that would
escape more mainstream political historians? Can you think of other examples
that he might have cited?
In other words, what do we learn by studying popular culture in addition to
the high politics of the administration and congress? What do we MISS by
focusing too exclusively on the world within the Beltway?
Using the kind of materials he
does, what pop culture materials from 2006 do you think future historians might
find comparably valuable for understanding contemporary society and/or
politics?
When
Reagan died in 2004, many ordinary people recalled him as the president who
saved us, who saved America. Why did they think this? Was this a realistic
interpretation?
In
what sense did Reagan Òinvent the 1980sÓ? (See especially TroyÕs list of claims
on pp 330-347)
How,
if at all, do you think Troy overstates his case?
Do
you believe his work shows a political slant? If so, what is it?
REVIEWS OF MORNING IN
AMERICA
You should also check out what
other scholars have said about TroyÕs book, and reviews are neatly collected at
http://www.morninginamericabook.com/newsandreviews.htm
Some good examples can be found at these sites:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05107/488959.stm
http://www.morninginamericabook.com/newyorkobserverreview.htm
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050501/news_lz1v01gipper.html
http://www.morninginamericabook.com/dissectingreagansparadoxicalpresidency.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/14/AR2005041402429_pf.html
My own review of TroyÕs book (from Books and Culture) can be found at http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/j/p/jpj1/troy.htm
One of the more negative reviews was published by Steven
Hayward. You can read this review and TroyÕs response to it:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/608nlevm.asp
http://www.morninginamericabook.com/troyresponsetohayward.htm
How do you respond to the exchange? Did Hayward make valid
points? Did Troy respond adequately?
THE COURSE
Finally, and just out of curiosity – for comparison purposes,
Gil Troy also teaches a course on ReaganÕs America, and you can find the
syllabus at: